Christianity is not a religion which salvation is dependent upon self performance or works righteousness, but about Christ’s performance. About what Christ has done to give the believer salvation and even more wonderful than that (
salvation itself is wonderful enough but our God gives much more), as children of God, we get to have a personal intimate fellowship with our Father God and Jesus - eternal life (Jn 3.16; Jn 17.3), which begins the moment we accept Christ into our lives.
Christianity is not about ‘Doing’ but about believing in what has been ‘Done’ for us by Christ – His finished work.
Christianity is not about religion or philosophy, which promotes behavioural outward change but about internal heart transformation (our indwelling Holy Spirit changes our body and soul as we commune with Him continuously) so that we become Christ-like from glory to glory (2 Cor 3.18).
Christianity is about Grace (the unearned, unmerited and undeserved favor of God) which we all qualify to receive, through Faith (Ep 2.8).
Without knowledge and understanding, many believers continue to walk in bondage - in defeat, in sickness, in depression, in broken relationships, in poverty, and the ‘death-list’ goes on.
Hos 4.6: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
(Note Jn 10.10 which says the devil does not come except to steal, kill, and destroy – essentially to steal The Way, kill The Truth and destroy The Life)
As with all matters of life in this world, as believers, our first thought and spontaneous reaction must be to turn to Christ (and not our intellect) for answers. Let us see what Christ has to say re-our subject matter.
In the book of John after His Feeding of 5,000, the Jews posed a similar question to Jesus, viz:
John 6.28: Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”[29] Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”
Jesus’ response to the crowd, who were seeking Jesus for physical food and gratification was to just ‘believe in Him’. They do not have to ‘do’ anything or ‘work’ at anything.
A similar question was also posed to Paul by his jailer, when God intervened and freed Paul and Silas from prison.
Acts 16.29: Then he (jailer) called for a light (Christ, the Light of the World), ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.[30] And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”[31] So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
That’s amazing grace. All we have ‘to do’ is BELIEVE IN CHRIST to begin the wondrous journey of fellowshipping with Him and trust in Him to help us navigate through the many dangers, toils and snares of this fallen world.
Is it that simple? Again, this is a worldly question. Again Jesus anticipates the
queries of the carnal mind and answers us in 1Cor 1.21, viz:
1Cor 1.21: For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom (man’s wisdom) did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
Do we believe that when we receive Christ in our life, we become a new creation and we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to help us in our pilgrimage through this fallen world we live in? Best of all, it is free! It is the free gift of God to us to walk and live a victorious life here in this world. As with any gift, we need to choose (the act of faith) to receive the gift.
Pro 3.6 tells us to acknowledge Him in all our ways and He will direct our paths!!.
Isn’t it awesome to have God (who is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent,unlike man) directing your paths here on earth?!!
As to the last question - Are we being hypocrites to just ‘take’ from God without giving back in return?
See how self-centred we are with our question – honestly, what can spiritually bankrupt man, give back to God?
Believers are in fact being hypocritical if they do not with humility (Ja 4.6 – God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble) receive the free favors of God which is given to His children according to the riches of His glory (Ep 3.16).
All God wants back from us are: an enlightened heart, a right visualization of Him (He has and always is a God of Love but mankind persists to portray (through a lack of understanding) Him as a God of ‘fire and brimstone’), our thanksgiving and we continue to glorify Him (Rom 1.21).
As we close, let us be reminded by Col 2.8, viz:
Col 2:8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
Let us not be deceived by the devil to apply carnally led responses and worldly principles to spiritually led questions. We need to focus our attention back to Christ and ‘watch what He does’ (not ‘what He would do’).
GOD IS THE GREATEST GIVER!
Jn 4.10: Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
Do you want to receive Christ in your life to bring about heart transformation which is eternal vs worldly philosophy which brings about temporal behavioural change?
As a believer, do you want to ‘Choose’ to believe (Dt 30.19) in God’s goodness and receive Grace through your faith in Christ’s Finished Work?
If we do not choose to believe, perhaps that is why the Word of God does not work for us in our life.
Would you CHOOSE to believe?
Br. Lee
